Research on Gender and the Law: Where Are We Going, Where Have We Been?

• NCJ Number: 170814
• Journal: Law and Human Behavior Volume: 22 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1998) Pages: 1-16
• Author(s): P A Frazier; J S Hunt
• Date Published: 1998
• Length: 16 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Literature Review
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Based on an analysis of the role of gender in articles published in the journal of "Law and Human Behavior" (LHB) from 1990 through 1996, this article provides an overview of issues related to research on gender and the law.

Abstract

Given the significance of gender for numerous topics in the field of social science and the law, it is important to know the extent to which issues related to gender have been represented in LHB, a leading journal in the field. To answer this question, this analysis of all issues of LHB from 1990 through 1996 focused on the number of papers on gender-related topics, the number of empirical papers that reported gender-related analyses, the number of empirical papers that reported the gender of the participants, and the total number of male and female participants. Prior to beginning the analysis, the study determined that research related to gender can take two forms: "gender studies," in which gender per se is examined as a primary variable of interest or research on "gender issues," that is, phenomena that largely impact members of one gender (e.g., sexual violence). The analysis located only six papers out of 293 between 1990 and 1996 that qualified as gender studies. This article briefly summarizes each of them. Several other articles dealt with gender issues. Approximately 12 articles focused on some aspect of child sexual abuse, which is most likely to involve female victims. The next most frequent gender issue, domestic violence, was addressed in six papers, all of which focused on legal issues in trials of battered women accused of killing their abusers. The analysis concludes that although there are numerous ways in which gender and the law may interact, to date these issues have been given relatively little attention, either topically or methodologically, in LHB. Following the analysis of LHB gender-related articles, the current article discusses various strategies for conducting gender research and their implications for research on gender and the law. The authors conclude by introducing the articles in this special LHB issue on gender and the law, commenting on how these articles add to accumulated knowledge in this area. 10 notes and 93 references